Activated charcoal rids the soil of impurities, repels insects, and prevents mold and odors. It’s also extremely porous, meaning that when you drown your leafy friends in water, it will absorb the excess, thereby preventing root rot.

Adding a layer of activated charcoal to the bottom of your plant pot, underneath the soil, can help your plant’s health in a number, according to Apartment Therapy. The substance rids the soil of impurities (which is why it’s sometimes a great health and beauty ingredient), repels insects, and prevents mold and odors. And, since activated charcoal is extremely porous, when you accidentally drown your leafy friends in water (just me?), it will absorb the excess, thereby preventing root rot.

And in addition to it not only being totally possible to overwater your plant babies (yep, #guilty), Apartment Therapy reported that doing so is actually one of the most common ways to kill them. If you’ve ever had a plant turn brown and yellow, that just may be what happened. Luckily, it’s in solving precisely this dilemma where activated charcoal shines.